Britain cannot afford to ignore Labour’s interventionist agenda September 6, 2019 For the past three years in Westminster, it’s been difficult to think more long-term than the next few hours. Nearly every day has dragged us further into uncharted political territory. Meaningful votes, Brexit extensions, and leadership contests have been making and shaping history – though it would be fair to say that for all the [...]
Government should scrap ‘arbitrary’ migration target and harmful visa cap, says think tank January 14, 2019 The UK should scrap its "arbitrary" net migration target and harmful visa cap, a leading centre-right think tank has proposed. A new report released today by the Institute of Economic Affairs calls the UK's approach to immigration policy "economically damaging" and "too restrictive" when applied to high-skilled workers. The IEA said that as well as scrapping a [...]
Block Energy raises £12m to fund better than expected new well May 16, 2019 Block Energy today completed a £12m fundraise this morning after the company found it needed more money to explore a well which proved much more fruitful than first thought. The Aim-listed oil explorer said it had placed around 109m new shares at 11p each, a discount of nearly 16 per cent on yesterday’s closing price. Read [...]
Like the myth that the Earth is flat, the socialist conspiracy theory never dies March 6, 2019 The idea that the Earth is flat is a rapidly growing trend on social media. The Flat Earth Society’s Twitter feed has the best part of 100,000 followers. The fact that the planet is a sphere has been known since at least the time of the ancient Greeks. The astronomer Eratosthenes demonstrated it with a simple [...]
Boris is right to question the nanny-state impulse to tax our milkshakes July 5, 2019 The milkshake, once defined as tasting of watered-down ice cream, can now be defined as the taste of freedom. Targeted as the next treat to have an arbitrary sin tax slapped on it, the milkshake and its consumers have just found a new ally. This week, Conservative leadership hopeful Boris Johnson reiterated in a press [...]
DEBATE: As Julian Richer hands over company shares, are staff-owned firms better for the economy? May 16, 2019 As Julian Richer hands over company shares, are staff-owned firms are better for the economy? Scott Corfe, chief economist at the Social Market Foundation, says YES. Companies with significant employee ownership schemes tend to have higher productivity – which is exactly what the UK needs right now. Poor productivity performance is a key reason why, [...]
The new PM had better deliver on his promise to fix social care July 26, 2019 Talk about bold promises. On the steps on Downing Street, preparing to enter Number 10, the new Prime Minister pledged to “fix the crisis in social care once and for all with a clear plan we have prepared”. Similar to the National Health Service, social care is an area that MPs often struggle to address. [...]
London hosts bulk of Britain’s £100bn of secretly owned property March 17, 2019 Over 87,000 properties in England and Wales are owned anonymously through companies registered in tax havens, it has been revealed today. Together, these properties are worth at least £56bn, according to Land Registry data, and likely worth more than £100bn when accounting for inflation, according to new analysis by anti-corruption organisation Global Witness. Read more: [...]
With just a dash of flexibility, the Brexit endgame is in sight January 29, 2019 In 1982, three years into Margaret Thatcher’s first term, a monograph was published about the government’s economic progress bluntly titled: “Could do better”. Was it published by the Fabian Society, with its close affiliation to the Labour party? Or perhaps it was released by the recently established Social Democratic Party, formed by people on the [...]
Jacob Rees-Mogg tells businesses to stop living in ‘cloud cuckoo land’ over Brexit September 24, 2018 Leading Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg has called on businesses to stop living in "cloud cuckoo land" and accept Brexit will mean changes to how they operate. The Conservative MP was backed up by former Brexit secretary David Davis, who claimed top firms such as BMW should be able to cope with extra hours delays at [...]